In Which Howl Fulfills a Promise
by lizbetanwrites
Summary: Sophie has become anxious about where things stand between her and Howl.


(A/N) EEk.. I'm a little scared to share this. I'm afraid it's not very good. This is only the second time I've ever published a fanfic in my life, but I just finished re-reading HMC and-- _oops_. My pen slipped. This is the result of one of my many daydream sessions about what the Pendragon proposal may have looked like. It's also very long, so props to those of you who buckle in and actually finish it. I could see myself writing a second part to this, so if anyone happens to want that, lmk! Anyhoo, here it is. Enjoy. (Obviously, I don't own this story or any of these characters. Just my own silly ideas for this fic!)

Sophie had an excited feeling fluttering about in her stomach that morning. She hadn't woken up with it. In fact, she had started the morning in a little bit of a sour mood.

Howl had been away all day the day before, and came back late, and went straight upstairs to bed without anything more than a "goodnight". This exact thing had been happening more and more frequently. She missed him terribly and, though she could curse herself for admitting it, she had been feeling a little bit neglected. She knew it was silly. She couldn't blame Howl for having to go and work for the king. It wasn't as if he wanted to be doing it anyway. He would love nothing better than to just stay at home and never have to enter the king's castle again—he said so constantly.

But Sophie couldn't help feeling upset that it had been almost three months since their curses had been broken and she had hardly spent any time alone with Howl in all that time. Howl had promised her a happy ending, and while she was truly incredibly happy, she had rather hoped that he had meant something a little more—matrimonial.

Sophie had been sitting and chatting with Calcifer, trying to seem as cheerful as possible, when Howl swept down the stairs and entered the room with a bright declaration of "Good morning, all!"

Michael responded distractedly from the work table. Calcifer, of course, remained silent. Sophie muttered a "morning" in return, forcing a small smile onto her lips.

Howl chuckled slightly, "Sophie, my dearest, what has got you in such a bad mood so early in the morning?"

"Who says I'm in a bad mood?" she all but snapped in response.

Howl chuckled again. "Well, never mind. You'll soon be cheered up!"

Oh, really? Sophie thought, but she said nothing.

"Get dressed," Howl said as he grabbed a piece of cheese from the counter and nibbled on it.

"I am dressed!" Sophie said, her mood disproving slowly with every word out of Howl's mouth.

"Well, put on something nicer then. I'm going out for just a few hours, and when I come back, I am taking you out on a proper date, Miss Hatter."

This was the instant in which the excited feeling took root in her stomach, and her bad mood vanished entirely. "A date? Where? Why?"

Howl flashed her an amused smile. "So many questions. I won't answer them now and spoil the surprise." Out of the corner of Sophie's eye, she could see Michael grinning, which seemed odd, but she didn't give it much thought. With a wink to Calcifer, and another smile to Sophie, and one last promise of "Back soon!", Howl left the castle through the shop door.

So, he's going into Market Chipping, Sophie thought, Whatever for?

But she didn't spend much time wondering about it. She quickly went into her cubby-hole and started rooting through her things to find the dress she had in mind to wear. It was a light blue dress embroidered with green which Howl had said he liked her in on numerous occasions. Sophie had to admit, she felt very beautiful in it. Though, more and more often, she was beginning to feel beautiful in whatever she wore.

She found the dress at last, smiling to herself as she went into the bathroom to get changed. Once she was dressed, she brushed through her hair again and took some pieces from the front to braid back away from her face. She had begun to do this when she wanted to look especially nice. Martha had done it first, a few weeks prior, to her own hair. Sophie had liked it so much, she decided to try it herself, and she was very pleased with the result. Sophie smiled at her reflection in the mirror when she was done.

She went back into the living room and put her other dress back into her cubby-hole. She sighed, estimating that it had been about an hour since Howl left. He probably wouldn't be back for a couple more hours yet. She decided to clean the kitchen a little bit, since it was still messy from breakfast.

She noticed that Calcifer had disappeared. She frowned. Though Calcifer was now free to move from his grate whenever he wished, it was rare that he would go out without announcing his departure. Perhaps she simply hadn't heard him from the bathroom.

Michael was now out in the yard, working on a spell he'd been toiling over for the past few days. Without Howl being around as much to help him recently, he'd been moving through it rather more slowly than he would've liked to. Sophie noticed that Michael hadn't even left the castle to visit Martha in the past couple of days, and he was beginning to look a little ragged.

She scrubbed the breakfast plates and silverware, put them back in their proper places, and decided to go out into the yard to check on Michael.

"Figuring it out?" she asked him, smiling.

Michael gave a huff.

"Hardly." He was poking at some kind of powder he had in his hand. He dumped it into a bucket which seemed to be about half full of water. He put his hands on either side of the bucket and mumbled something under his breath. He waited for a second and then let out an exasperated sigh. "It should be working!" he growled. "I've done everything exactly the way Howl explained it. I've tried it three different ways—any of them should've worked just fine! I've seen Howl do it a thousand times. I'm not doing a single thing differently. It just won't bloody work!" he dumped out the bucket and stormed inside. Sophie followed him, sighing. This was the most upset she'd seen him in a while. There must be something else going on.

Michael went straight back to the work table and began mixing things together again.

"Michael," Sophie began, sitting at the table. "Come and sit down with me for a moment."

Michael looked over at her and sighed, defeated. He set his tools down and trudged to the table, sitting beside Sophie.

"Now, what is going on? This isn't just about the spell, so don't pretend it is." She said, folding her hands on the table.

"No," Michael groaned pitifully, "you're right. It's not about the spell."

Sophie nodded and waited for a moment as Michael fidgeted with his sleeve.

Finally, he looked up at her. "It's Martha."

Sophie nodded again. "I thought that might be it. You'd better tell me what's happened."

"Well, I've only ruined everything with my stupid mouth." Michael said, his face falling into a look of utter despair.

Sophie snorted lightly. Poor Michael. She knew he could be a little bit helpless at times, but knowing both him and Martha, she doubted anything that happened had been entirely his fault.

"I've been working so much lately, I haven't had much time to visit her. I knew I was neglecting her, but I'm just at such a crucial stage in my apprenticeship! I thought she understood that. We had talked about it before. But when I went to see her a few nights ago, she was so cross with me. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she just missed me. And of course, I said that I missed her too. But then she started talking about how she wished I would make more time to see her, and I got angry because I had been trying my best to go see her whenever I could! I don't know if she understands how exhausted I've been lately. Extra work for Howl means extra work for me, and with the war and everything, I've been drowning in spells. I don't want to complain, of course!" he added hastily, "I know you understand, Sophie." He looked at her worriedly, as though he were afraid that maybe she wouldn't understand and was going to scold him. But she just smiled and nodded for him to continue. He did, still fumbling with his shirtsleeve. "Well, I told her as much, and I said that I thought she was being unreasonable. I may have called her selfish," he said, grimacing. "She didn't like that at all. She said that if I felt that way, then I could leave. I tried to apologize, but she said she didn't want to see me for a while." He finished, whimpering. "Oh, Sophie, I don't know what to do. I'm so beside myself, I can't do anything properly. I know that's the problem with my spell. I just can't focus on it. All I can think about is Martha!"

Sophie took Michael's hands in hers and squeezed lightly. She told him to go to Cesari's and demand to see Martha at once.

Martha should have cooled off after a couple days, Sophie thought. And she was probably feeling just as badly as Michael.

Sophie told Michael to take a bunch of flowers from the shop. He did so, and set out immediately.

Sophie smiled to herself, knowing that Michael was doing the smart thing. Martha was a sweet girl, but she could get too worked up over small things sometimes. Michael could be a little bit unwise with his words, but he loved Martha desperately, and she loved him. Sophie had no doubt that the whole thing would be resolved quickly.

She felt a little guilty. She should've known that if she had been feeling neglected by Howl, Martha and Lettie were most likely in the same boat with their respective wizards. She should've checked in on them before now. She resolved to visit Lettie as soon as she could to make sure she was alright.

Howl still wasn't back. Sophie sighed and began working on a shawl she was embroidering for Martha's birthday. She worked for probably close to an hour before the shop door swung open and Howl finally strode into the kitchen holding a bunch of flowers, which he had presumably taken from the shop. He was grinning.

"Well, Miss Hatter, are you quite ready to go?" He handed her the flowers as she put her sewing away.

"Quite ready," she said, smiling as she sniffed the flowers. It was sweet of him, even though they already belonged to her in the first place.

She quickly put them in a vase and set them on the mantle.

Howl stood near the door, watching her. She turned around and caught him staring. She raised her eyebrows at him. He smiled, a far-off sort of look in his eyes. "I love that dress on you," he said in a quiet and earnest voice.

Sophie felt her cheeks warm up. She smiled and looked down for a moment before meeting his eyes again. He also looked lovely. He always did, of course, but today he seemed not to have done too much to alter his appearance. He may not have cared for the "natural" look, but he knew that Sophie did. She knew he was trying to please her.

Howl shook himself as if out of a daze and turned around. He turned the doorknob purple-down and opened the door.

Sophie's eyebrows knit together in puzzlement. "We're going into the garden?"

Howl nodded and held out his hand to her. "It's a surprise. Will you be warm enough?" Sophie nodded, but grabbed her shawl off of the back of a chair anyway. She took Howl's hand. His hands were always warmer than hers. Her skin tingled from the contact. Howl's hand twitched and then tightened around hers comfortably. He led her into the garden.

Sophie's nose was filled with the perfume of a thousand flowers. She smiled and breathed a heavy, contented sigh. Howl was quiet as he pulled her through the hedges and across the marshy ground, mist curling around them both. He said nothing more than the occasional "watch your step here". She would've been worried by his silence if it weren't for the continual reassuring stroking of his thumb across the back of her hand. Sometimes silence between the two of them was better than words anyway. Though, she hoped he would be at least a little more vocal as the date went on.

"Just a little bit farther," he assured her at least five times as they walked. Sophie had just begun to suspect he might be playing a trick on her, when she noticed what looked like candlelight in the mist ahead. She squinted and thought she could make out the outline of a table in the distance.

As they got closer she realized that it was indeed a table. It was covered with a lacy white cloth and two long candles stood upright upon it. There were many more candles all around the table. They seemed to be floating in the air. There were flowers on and around the table as well.

"Oh!" Sophie drew Howl's hand with hers to her chest. "It's lovely Howl."

She looked into his face, and he smiled, looking a little relieved. "I was afraid you might think it was too much," he admitted.

"No," she shook her head, grinning. "I love it. It's perfect."

She heard Howl let out a breath. He dropped her hand and went to pull out her chair for her.

"Madam," he bowed playfully, with a flourish.

"Why, thank you, sir," Sophie said grandly, sitting with a flourish of her own.

Howl chuckled as he sat across from her. The table was a good size, but small enough that she could comfortably reach out and hold Howl's hand if she wanted to. She did not do so at the moment. She found herself suddenly feeling very hungry. Her stomach growled as she looked around, wondering if there was food nearby.

Howl chuckled again. "First course, please," he called to the air.

Two bowls appeared above the table and floated down to rest in front of Howl and Sophie.

Sophie's eyebrows raised. "Calcifer?" she asked.

Howl nodded. "Calcifer."

Sophie couldn't help feeling a little disappointed by this. She had hoped it would just be the two of them. She loved Calcifer, but she wasn't thrilled by the idea of him listening in on their date. Howl sensed this. "Don't worry," he said, "He's leaving right after supper."

Sophie felt a little mollified by this, and nodded her head, smiling. They ate dinner with very light and happy conversation throughout. Howl asked how Sophie's day had been before their date. She told him about sewing and cleaning, and gave him the brief details of Michael's trouble. She left out the part about her feeling similar to Martha, with how much Howl had been working. Howl seemed a little bit troubled by this whole piece of news. He frowned slightly.

"I should do a better job of making sure he takes breaks," he said in between bites of the main course. "I don't want him ruining his life over his career. He has no problem working hard. He should still have time to live his life outside of work."

This was when Sophie could no longer hold herself back. "So should you," she said, meaningfully.

Howl seemed further troubled by this. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, pushing his clean dish away in front of him. "Yes," he said, "I know."

He looked into Sophie's eyes as he leaned forward a little in his chair. "Look, Sophie, I know I haven't been able to do everything for you that I should. I know that I've been gone more often than not lately, and believe me, it's as hard for me as it is for you." He sighed, "I mean, you know better than most how hard I fought against being appointed Royal Wizard."

Sophie nodded, beginning to feel a little guilty. She certainly did know. She had been the one to try and blacken his name to the king.

"I want you to know that," he paused, looking down, as if searching for the right words, "I will do everything in my power to make sure my position doesn't become a problem for us… in the future." He looked back into Sophie's eyes.

She stared back, wide-eyed. He was hinting at marriage. He had not said a word on the subject since the day their curses had been broken.

"Howl-" Sophie was cut off before she could form even half of her sentence.

"Do you want dessert?" Howl asked in a rush.

Sophie sat back in her seat, huffing silently. Was he slithering out now?

She shook her head.

Howl nodded and called to the mist, "Nothing else, Calcifer. You can go now."

There was a poof in which both of their plates disappeared and some of the mist cleared. This led Sophie to believe that the thickness of the mist had been Calcifer's doing, to conceal himself.

It was silent for a moment before Howl took a deep, surprisingly shaky breath. "I haven't forgotten, you know," he said. Sophie just looked at him. "That I promised you a happy ending."

Sophie still stared blankly, but she felt something inside her begin to rise up, pressing at the roof of her stomach and the bottoms of her lungs.

"I know you probably feared I'd try to get out of it somehow. What is it you call me," he scrunched his eyebrows together, "A slitherer-outer?"

Sophie felt a short laugh escape her lips. She let herself smile. That was exactly what she had thought.

"I want you to know, Sophie, as ridiculous and cowardly as I am," he licked his lips and forced himself to look her in the eyes, "You are the one thing I've never wanted to back out of. Not once."

Sophie felt her face become warm again as she watched Howl's glass-green eyes becoming shiny in the candlelight. Her own eyes began to burn. She blinked harshly. It was silly to cry over things like this, she told herself. But her eyes didn't seem to hear.

"You are the only thing I've ever been sure of in my entire life. Sophie, my darling, you know what I am. You've seen the barest parts of my soul. My heart only beats in my chest because you put it there. There is no reason for it to continue to beat, except for the hope that it might have you to love for the rest of its days."

Sophie almost laughed, partially out of nervous emotion, partially due to the thought that this was just like him to try and make her cry with such beautiful words. She bit it back because she knew he meant these words, and because they were working incredibly well. Instead it came out as a sort of small sob, which is maybe what it was always going to be anyway.

"Sophie," Howl continued, moving to kneel beside her. "I have only one thing to beg of you tonight. It is the most frightening thing I've ever done, and I can only do it because you give me such courage." Sophie had turned fully to face Howl by now. He took her hands in his. She felt a single tear roll down her cheek. He had many tears rolling down his cheeks by now and he kept reaching up to wipe them away with his stupid long sleeves. What a mess he was. "Sophie Hatter, could you find it agreeable, somehow, to look past my cowardliness and all of the many ways in which my existence seems to annoy you so severely," Sophie hiccup-laughed and rolled her eyes, smiling. "Could you find a way to marry me?" He finally said it.

Sophie felt her shoulders shake. She could curse herself. She had always told herself she wouldn't be one of those silly girls who cried when they were proposed to. It would seem that her magic hadn't worked in this instance.

She felt an overwhelming sense of relief. He had finally asked her to marry him. She finally knew that he really, truly did care for her. He wouldn't try to slither his way out of this.

She found she couldn't answer at first. She wanted to regain her composure before she spoke.

Her silence and tears worried Howl excessively.

"Sophie?" he reached up to touch her face. "Oh dear, what have I done?" he seemed not to know precisely what to do. "This is ghastly!" he said at last, which broke the spell. Sophie laughed and found her voice at last.

"Oh, you ridiculous man, of course I am going to marry you." She pulled his hands to her mouth and kissed them. "There is no one else I could possibly marry."

This caused the widest grin she had ever seen Howl wear to break upon his face. He leapt up, pulling Sophie out of the chair with him. He swept her up into his arms, spinning her around and around, both of them laughing all the while. He finally set her down and she felt him slide something onto her finger. She looked down at her hand and smiled brightly. It was the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. She had been afraid it would be too gaudy for her tastes, but it was perfection. It was the thinnest gold band with three white diamonds like stars embedded into it. It was elegant but humble: a perfect mix of the two people whose love it signified.

Sophie looked up into Howl's still beaming face.

"Is this why you went into Market Chipping?" she asked.

Howl nodded sheepishly. "I had been several times to look at rings," he explained. "There were so many to choose from. You know, I almost chose that one that the Count of Catterack chose for his fiancée."

"You did _not_, Howl!" she gasped, hitting him playfully. "That is the ugliest ring I've ever seen in my life! The diamond is bigger than her knuckle!"

Howl threw back his head and laughed. "You told me as much, and I figured I was on the wrong path." He winked at her and she knew he was only playing.

"Did it really take you three hours just to pick out a ring?" she asked.

Howl shrugged. "I had to make sure it felt right. I ended up having to bring in some help. They all agreed I'd chosen correctly." He looked very proud as he said this.

Sophie felt her face grow hot. "Who?"

"Oh, the jeweler, of course, the jeweler's wife, their two daughters, several passersby off the street."

"Howl!" Sophie felt like she could burst with angry embarrassment.

Howl only laughed at her. "I'm teasing. I only asked your stepmother, and Mrs. Fairfax who happened to be with her."

Sophie huffed and smacked his chest lightly, but she was secretly very pleased by this. It was precious to her that he had cared so much about the ring—even if it was silly to take three hours to choose one.

She smiled at him again and stared at his lips, hoping he would take the hint. Of course, he did.

Their lips met and she felt the world shifting around her. She could never say what it felt like, but she observed that it was not unlike being in the moving castle as it switched between locations. They smiled as they kissed each other, and as they pulled away to look at each other again, they both found that they were quite unable to stop.


End file.
